General provisions

The course may be included in the Master of Science Programme in Pharmacy or the Master's Programme in Drug Discovery and Development.

Entry requirements

150 credits, including 60 credits in chemistry or biology and advanced courses (at level G2F/C or above) in pharmaceutical sciences worth at least 22.5 credits or Pharmacognosy B (15 credits). Alternatively, from the Master of Science Programme in Pharmacy: 150 credits in the programme including a course in pharmacognosy; or from the Master's Programme in Chemical Engineering: 150 credits in the programme including courses in analytical chemistry (10 credits), pharmacology (7.5 credits) and medicinal chemistry (7.5 credits); or admission to the Master's Programme in Drug Discovery and Development.

Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course the student should:

• be able to explain how natural products are used in the search for new drugs within research and pharmaceutical industry
• be able to account for the importance and the use of bioassay and high throughput screening
• be able to evaluate ecology and ethnopharmacology as sampling instruments in the search for new drugs
• be able to account for and evaluate the use of different methods for extraction, isolation, detection and characterisation of bioactive molecules

Content

Observation and selection of bioactive organisms. Ecology and ethnopharmacology as sampling instruments. Extraction, isolation, detection and characterisation of bioactive molecules. Bioassay and high through-put screening. Examples of industrial projects.

In this course the student obtains further and specific training to:

• compile and present information in writing in the form of two essays.
• evaluate information from different sources such as scientific publications, authorities, companies etc.

Instruction

Instructions are conducted as lectures, seminars and oral presentations. An independent literature project is an important part of the course. The language of instruction is English.

The course is web-based and access to the Internet is required.

Compulsory parts of the course: Written presentation of two essays and seminar assignments and oral presentation of the method project.

Assessment

Examination takes place through passed written presentation of essays (4,5 credits), patent assignment (0,5 credit), seminar assignments (1 credit) and oral presentation of the method project (1,5 credits).

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Other directives

Substitutes and corresponds to 3FN740 or 3FN006, Drug Discovery Based on Natural Products.